Spotlight Reviews

Dogal strings are made in Italy. The company has been around for over 60 years, but at least in the SE Michigan are practically unheard of. Today we are looking at the Capriccio "Soloist" strings.

The packaging for Capriccio strings states:

CAPRISSIO® is a string for the precious violin of the virtuoso. These new strings are made exclusively by hand at the Dogal factory in Venice. Wound strings featuring our new concept 'Synthetic Gut' core, we are able to offer to the professional player a string which is absolutely impervious to damp or other difficult climatic conditions. These strings allow the player to easily attain a warm, intense and powerful sound. Dogs 'Capriccio' strings give you the authentic and unmistakeable 'Italian Sound'.

The set that I put on my instrument has the steel E. A platinum E-string is available. The strings are incredibly smooth. I might even say that they are the most polished strings I have ever used. They took a couple days to stop stretching and about a week for the tone to settle.

Tone & ComplexityOnce the strings fully stretched out they lost a bit of the heavy richness that I initially heard just after installing the strings. The warmer tone is still there but feels distant compared to the more upfront tone of the string. It is quite an interesting effect that I never noticed on other strings. When playing out on forte passages they cut through like a brighter string, but when holding back on piano sections the complexity and richness of the tone shines. I would lean them in the brighter category but depending on the register and dynamic you can get a variety of tones from this single set. It definitely feels most like a "soloist" string as the package advertises, and I am curious as to how the orchestra set compares.

The tone is not completely even across all four strings. The Steel E really shines above the rest of the set which is great for solo works. The tension feels a bit tight which allows for a bit cleaner articulation compared to the previous couple sets I have used.

ProjectionThese strings can sing. They cannot hold up to the power that you find in a Kaplan or Evah Pirazzi string, but my instrument is definitely being challenged above it's "natural" tone.

Bright (Tone)

Neutral (Complexity)

Loud (Projection)

ConclusionThese strings are fun. They are incredibly smooth and make shifting a breeze without a hint of "string noise." The tone is both bright when playing loud, but manages to bring out richness when playing softer and in the lower register. A soloist looking to play loud but not shrill, or a chamber musician looking to open up a dark instrument would love these strings.

Hello, how long would you say these would last for me? I practice every day for about 3 hours. Would I be able to get at least 6 to 8 months out of these?

Reply

Shawn (ViolinStringReview)

4/6/2016 11:20:50 pm

I can't think of any strings that would last that long with 3 hours of practice per day. For some people the deteriation of tone is not noticeable enough to change strings often but these strings do not seem to last any more than other major sets currently out there.

Reply

Joshua

4/7/2016 01:30:21 am

Another question, would you say that the Pirastro Chromcor's sound is similar to these at all? Life span? (sorry if that's not a very good question to ask about these)

Shawn (ViolinStringReview)

4/7/2016 09:01:21 am

No, Chromcor is a single metal core and quite bright compared to this which has a synthetic core. Metal strings will often last longer but I rarely ever see anyone use a steel core string on a violin unless they are a student looking for a cheap string or is a fiddle player.

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Kamalakiran Vinjamuri

6/14/2016 09:18:15 am

How would you compare this to Evah Gold or Peter Infeld? I know you said that with the power, it does not have as much power as those other sets; but are they warmer, more brilliant? Do you prefer these?

Reply

Shawn (ViolinStringReview)

6/15/2016 09:50:31 am

The are not warmer than Evah Gold but I would say much warmer than PI strings. These are a bit more neutral compared to PI which have quite a bit more soloist punch and brilliance to them while Evah Gold has a bit more richness.

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Jian Yap

6/15/2016 10:39:30 am

Hi, my violin string is made from bronze which is in gold color. may I know what is the difference with the silver one.

Reply

Shawn (ViolinStringReview)

6/15/2016 11:44:37 am

I don't know exactly what you are asking. D strings in sets often come in a Silver version and Aluminum. The Silver, being a heavier weight, allows for a thinner string and often warmer sound blending in better with the G while the Aluminum will be a bit brighter and blend more with the A strings. I have never heard or any violin string being bronze wrapped unless you are just referring to the silk wrapping color.

Reply

Eric Nemrava

4/22/2018 07:13:15 am

I might be able to shed some light on two comments made above. The first regards Jian Yap, and his question about the bronze on his strings. Dogal's Green Tag (green tag is probably their best selling string) strings are made with brass, which gives them a gold colour. Brass and bronze are easily confused, especially if one is describing these materials via their second language. I think that Jian is asking for a comparison between the chrome, brass and silver versions of Dogal's metal strings. I cannot answer this from personal experience but hopefully one of your readers can. And regarding Josh's question. Dogal is best known for their metal strings, and he might have missed that the string in review is synthetic in core. Again, I can't really give a good comparison between Dogal's chrome wound steel string versus Pirastro's chrome wound steel string. Hopefully one of your readers can.

Eric Nemrava

4/22/2018 08:06:32 am

I stand corrected... and it gets more confusing: Both Dogal's Italian site and their USA website state that they use brass in the Green Label strings. However the package itself actually states "bronze flat wound strings".